CHENNAI: To celebrate the silver jubilee of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, children from various humanitarian organisations came together for a cultural programme recently. The ‘Child Rights Celebrations’ was intended to help the children understand the importance of child rights and give them the space to express their thoughts. In line with this intent, everything from the compering and organising was largely done by the children, who were from organisations like Jeevajyothi, Arunodhaya and MACT. “Every one of you was born with rights, you need not wait for anyone to give you rights. Rights are equal to life,” Revathi from Tamil Nadu Commissioner for Protection of Child Rights told the children, urging them to speak out in case of any problems.
“Tamil Nadu is one of the better states when it comes to child rights, with good levels of literacy and reduction in child labour. But we still have a long way to go and there are many places where rights are still being violated,” said Sugata Roy, communication specialist from UNICEF. The children enthusiastically responded to the release of a special song Colour Colouraa Enga Ulagum by composer Vedanth Bharadwaj who was present at the function. The inauguration was followed by music, dance and drama by the children.